What is voicethread? A collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments. There are FIVE ways to leave comments - voice by microphone, voice by telephone, text, audio file, or video! A voice thread can be shared with friends, students, and colleagues for them to post comments. A new feature allows users to doodle on the voicethread while commenting. VoiceThread provides an educator’s version, which allows for privacy controls. A single educator license is free and class and district memberships are reasonable. You can choose to publish your VoiceThread so that only you and those you designate can view it, so no comments are allowed, or so comments are allowed but moderated by you before being made visible to others. You can choose whether to allow your VoiceThread to be available through public browsing. You can look at examples of how other educators are using VoiceThread on its digital library or browse Ideas for using VoiceThread, a collection of 143 examples from the library
Advantages Allows students to actively participate in learning Can be used for all ages Enables comprehensive collaboration Provides opportunity to share and discuss work Can be used to upload different types of files (documents, images, videos) Record voice comments (audio, video) without additional software Data can be uploaded from different sources (PC, URL, or Link) Sharing can be personal or group and can be embedded into other links
Limitations One must have an account to view and comment on a thread Simultaneous access is not possible for multiple users on one account The quality of function is not uniform for all web browser
Resources! Tools for Free Media: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page - Wikimedia connects to a collection of images and videos posted in Wikipedia that are often copyright free---or free for use in most situations with nothing more than a citation of the original source. This site will introduce you to the Wikimedia collection, which is sorted by category and nothing short of impressive.
http://www.morguefile.com/ - As described on Morguefile's website, "The purpose of this site is to provide free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html - This link connects to the Library of Congress's Print Reading Room, which contains almost a million digital images. What makes these images particularly valuable is that they are grouped into user-friendly categories like "People," "History," and "The Environment."
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html - This link connects to NASA's image gallery, which contains thousands of pictures that your children will find fascinating. With a few clicks of the mouse, you'll be able to find shots of stars, planets and space craft that will spark your imagination---and (like all images taken by government organizations), these pictures are a part of the common domain and not subject to copyright protections.
http://www.trekearth.com/ - As described on the Trek Earth website: "The underlying theme of TrekEarth is learning more about the world through photography. TrekEarth fosters this by allowing photographers to display their work grouped by regions in a supportive and orderly environment. This is accomplished by an easy-to-use system which encourages people to critique each other's work.
http://cagle.msnbc.com/ - This website is a terrific source of political cartoons from around the world. The images are categorized by topic and the artists are categorized by country. This is an awesome site!
What is voicethread?
A collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments. There are FIVE ways to leave comments - voice by microphone, voice by telephone, text, audio file, or video! A voice thread can be shared with friends, students, and colleagues for them to post comments. A new feature allows users to doodle on the voicethread while commenting. VoiceThread provides an educator’s version, which allows for privacy controls. A single educator license is free and class and district memberships are reasonable. You can choose to publish your VoiceThread so that only you and those you designate can view it, so no comments are allowed, or so comments are allowed but moderated by you before being made visible to others. You can choose whether to allow your VoiceThread to be available through public browsing. You can look at examples of how other educators are using VoiceThread on its digital library or browse Ideas for using VoiceThread, a collection of 143 examples from the library
Advantages
Allows students to actively participate in learning
Can be used for all ages
Enables comprehensive collaboration
Provides opportunity to share and discuss work
Can be used to upload different types of files (documents, images, videos)
Record voice comments (audio, video) without additional software
Data can be uploaded from different sources (PC, URL, or Link)
Sharing can be personal or group and can be embedded into other links
Limitations
One must have an account to view and comment on a thread
Simultaneous access is not possible for multiple users on one account
The quality of function is not uniform for all web browser
Voicethread Tutorials:
Overview of Voice Thread
One minute Voice Thread
Comment Moderation
Voice Thread Identities
Share a Voice Thread
How can a Voicethread be used in the classroom?
http://www.slideshare.net/suziea/voicethread-examples-in-education-presentation
Resources!
Tools for Free Media:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page - Wikimedia connects to a collection of images and videos posted in Wikipedia that are often copyright free---or free for use in most situations with nothing more than a citation of the original source. This site will introduce you to the Wikimedia collection, which is sorted by category and nothing short of impressive.
http://www.morguefile.com/ - As described on Morguefile's website, "The purpose of this site is to provide free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html - This link connects to the Library of Congress's Print Reading Room, which contains almost a million digital images. What makes these images particularly valuable is that they are grouped into user-friendly categories like "People," "History," and "The Environment."
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html - This link connects to NASA's image gallery, which contains thousands of pictures that your children will find fascinating. With a few clicks of the mouse, you'll be able to find shots of stars, planets and space craft that will spark your imagination---and (like all images taken by government organizations), these pictures are a part of the common domain and not subject to copyright protections.
http://www.trekearth.com/ - As described on the Trek Earth website: "The underlying theme of TrekEarth is learning more about the world through photography. TrekEarth fosters this by allowing photographers to display their work grouped by regions in a supportive and orderly environment. This is accomplished by an easy-to-use system which encourages people to critique each other's work.
http://cagle.msnbc.com/ - This website is a terrific source of political cartoons from around the world. The images are categorized by topic and the artists are categorized by country. This is an awesome site!
Example:
http://voicethread.com/?#u804605.b2549290
Documents/Resources
7 things you should know about... VoiceThread
VoiceThread --a valuable classroom collaboration tool - //Article from the NJ Education Association//
Life Beyond the Lecture: An Educator's Guide to VoiceThread
Using VoiceThread to Communicate and Collaborate